GMB: Employers requesting worker pay cuts

UK workers are being asked to accept significant pay reductions to help employers through the credit crisis, a leading trade union has claimed.

Speaking to the BBC, the GMB said that some of its members had been asked to take pay cuts of up to 40 per cent.

Martin Smith, from the GMB, said: "We're also hearing on the grapevine from a number of our employers up and down the country that they're also feeling the squeeze, and they want to start talking about pay cuts and other ways of saving money."

Dave May, a hire car driver, told the BBC his employer wished him to take "a massive pay cut of over 40 per cent."

He stated: "At the moment I'm earning over £30,000 a year and I've been asked to take a pay cut of £12,000, and it's just basically all down to the credit crunch."

With the UK economy is suffering from a slowdown in property sales and the rising costs of food and fuel, graduates are among those at risk should the employment sector be affected.